Remote reading electric indicator gauge



y 1944- A. M. CORSET 2,353,148

REMOTE READING ELECTRIC INDICATOR GAUGE Filed Feb. 27, 1940 6 She ets-Sheet 1 July 11,1944 L. M. CORSET REMOTE READING ELECTRIC INDICATOR GAUGE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1940 4s FIG.3

4 y 1 1944. 1..- A. M. CORSET I 2,353,148

REMOTEREADING ELECTRIC INDICATOR GAUGE Filed Feb. 27, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 11, 1944.- L. A. M. CQRSET REMOTE READING ELECTRIC INDICATOREAUGE Filed Feb. 27. 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 k RD E QE 90 N 832 u q 85: dz Q 0.52 o m .73: V55 w xz Q ndI July 11, 1944.

L. A. M. CORSET 2,353,148

REMOTE READING ELECTRIC INDICATOR GAUGE Filed Feb. 27, 1940 s Sheets-Sheet s a) r 0 E f; 5 co 1 d) I\ KO LO. L0

4 0 Q T Q (D t3 J L N m 44 54/70 7 m Q w \coqo lkfljllbzzsei July 1944. I A. M. CORSET 2,353,148

REMOTE READING ELECTRIC INDICATOR GAUGE Filed Feb. 27, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 L. Car's-e2 Patented July 11, 1944 Iiucien Alfred Maurice Corset, Paris, France vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application February 27, 1940, Serial No. 321,103

France March 24, 1939 6 Claims. (oi. iii-9s) The present invention has for its object a remote reading electric indicator gauge, based on the well known principle or the potentiometer,

this apparatus possessing, inter alia, the follow ing features:

The transmitter oi the indicator gauge is iormed'by the combination, on the one hand of a mechanical control device provided with a lever of appropriate shape, which is pivoted on. the

upper end of two vertical guides fixed to abase which is mounted on the tank to be gauged, along which guides there moves a float whose vertical position controls the angular position oi. the aforesaid pivoted lever, the angular movement of which varies, by means of a rack and pinion system, the angular position of a transmitting member, with, on the other hand a potentiometer (or like member), the circular winding and the rotary slider of which are arranged in a removable case provided with outward terminals and fixed on the base oi. the aforesaid mechanical control device.

The receiver (which may be double) is formed by the combination, on the one hand of two coils supplied by means of 'a source of direct current and through the potentiometer or the transmitter, said coils being placed in the extension of each other (and not superposed at right angles ent in the course of the ensuing description made in conjunction with the accompanying-drawings in which there has been shown diagrammatically and by way of a non-limitative example, one embodiment oi the remote reading electric indicator gauge which is the subie'ct oi! the present invention. V 1

Fig. 1 shows (partly in section) a general view oi the transmitter; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the electric part or thetransmitter;

Fig. 3 shows in section a part of Fig. 2 and the electric part and of the base of the transmitter; v i

Fig. 6 is a plan view of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a front view of a double receiver;

Fig. 8 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 9 is a section along the line IX-IK of Fig. 10;

Fig. 10 is a view in line X--X of Fig. 9;

Fig. ll shows a modification of Fig. 7;

Figs. 12 and 13 show plan views of certain details of the receiver;

partial section along the Fig. 14 shows the diagram of the connections of the whole apparatus;

Fig. 15 is a plan view'of the float; I

which there moves, in the vertical direction, a

double float 5 provided withguide rollers 6. The lever 3 carries a rack l meshing with a pinion 8 fast on a, vertical spindle 9 which is supported by one of the two vertical guides 2 and passes through a stufiing box It mounted in the base I, which stufling box prevents any, projection of liquid into the. upper part of the transmitter in crank ll.

The lever 3 is constantly subjected, in the direction of the arrow F, to the action of a retractmore particularly, the electric connections of the potentiometer; V

Fig. 4 is a plan view or the transmitter with the outside connections;

Fla. 5 15 an elevational view or the case for ing spring l2, an arrangement whereby said lever always tends to bear on the same side against one of the rollers 6, so that the eilect oi the play between said rollers is eliminated. 1

line curve of the lever I may be made to take i thus sumcient to enabl satisfactory accuracy to be obtained, even' at the high points of the travel of the float. The float I, which is of flat shape, has great power for the control and, owing to the aforesaid ilat shape, it can be readily passed,

by holding it vertically, through the orifice of the tank, for assembling the whole arrangement.

The spindle may actuate either a pointer which moves over a dial, or the slider of the potentiometer which will be described hereinafter, it being possible moreover to combine the two means with each other. On the base I is lined, by means of screws It, a case M containing the electrical members or the transmitter.

The said electrical members comprise a circuiar potentiometer 55, on the winding of which these moves a slider is secured to a rotary insulating plate ll which is driven by the spindle it through the cranl: ii.

ii e slider it, which is of the double brush type, moves, on the one hand on the winding 08 of potentiometer it, which winding is icrmed by an resistance wire i8 which is suitably (by filing) to permit of s. good contact with the slider and is wound on a flat ring if! made oi insulating material, and on the other hand on 2. metal ring 29 which does not possess any sucstontial electrical resistance, said ring being iizssol, by means of screws, on another ring it oi insulating material which is itself fixed on externally screwihrearled ring 22 that serves, the interposition oi an insulating member 28, to clamp potentiometer iii in the hottom of the case it from which it is separated an insulating disc 2 A screw 38 and its pro= iection 26 prevents the parts 2 3, is and from rotating when the ring i screwed firmly home once it slowing nssom ly.

Th plate ill which carries the double brush 6% Silt}, into the recess ill of which crank-pin of the ute ii penotra" which is rotatable spindle 293 fixed. to the cuss iii.

ends of the wire .88 we hroueh the motel is two insulating s 853 (Fla. 3) anti ed in the slots oi? the terminals 88.

circular contact 2" ii is connected to aconrluetcr which rough an insulating bush S8 and is connect the medial terminal ttioe erl between the sis 8i.

The three termiuels -i ti l enable the wires extending to the receiver, hich is placed at rilstcnce, to be connected on. the outside, the connections between t. insmitter and the receiver being shown in. the general electrical diagram of Fig. i i. "aforesaid terminals are prevented from rotating owing to the fact that they provided with square portions arranged in the corresponding square holes of an insulating plate 88. The external part 0! the terminals in question and the connections extending thereto are protected by a case 3? fined to the box it by means oi screws 38 and 25.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4 in particular, the members which are associated with the case it form a. separate electric apparatus which can be readily detached from (or connected to) the roe.- chani cei control flout device associated with the case i s v The electric apparatus and th mechanical device when connected to each other term a per iectly liquid-tight assembly owing to the plastic ioint 39 placed between the base i and the case it, to the semi hard washers 40 placed under the heads of the screws II and to the insulating s, secured to bush washers 4i clamped'by the terminals II and 3!.

ii and the insulating plate In order to enable the satisfactory operation 01 the apparatus to bechecked before putting into use the tank to be gauged, each half of the double float 5 is provided with a special device which enables, on the one hand the tests for liquid-tightness to be effected, and on the other hand the float as a whole to be slid along the vertical guides 2 and the bent lever I which is placed between said guides. Said device, which is shown more particularly in Fig. 16, is composed of a kind oi small tube 50 which is screw-threaded inwrnally and soldered on the wall of the halffloat ii, the end, of the tube that communicates with the inside of the float being constricted relatively to the diameter of the screw-thread. After the tests for liquid-tightness of the float have been effected by means of the tube ID, a mass of lead it is introduced into said tube, a mass of plastic material 52 is superposed thereon and the whole is crushed by means 0! a screw In the screw-thread portion that has remaimed free oi the tube 50, there is screwed, for effecting the assembly, the end of a rod I which is sumcientiy long to project, even when the float is at the bottom of. its travel, outside a screw-threaded orifice provided in the support i, which orifice is closed, when the apparatus is intended to be put into use, by means 01' a plug 65 carrying a column Eli which acts as a base 101 a braking washer clamped by the screw-threaded plug iii of an inspection hole provided in the upper well of said case. Another plug 58 is also screwed in the same end of th case and enables the coupling between the of the crank il carrying the brush it is known that in gauging devices of the potentiometer type, the rose is provided with two superposed soils which o need at right angles and apparently form e. si 2 block oi attractive simc ity of construc'ti formed in perfect ing a resin tore.

ugly being ior producgnetic arma- 210213 with the use ileld acting on the Such systems however have various drawbacks.

in fact, since one of the coils is outside-the other, each of them must be fairly he. .1 therefore of limited power, so that their (he see from the movable soft iron armature must L t very different. If the power is incree. c icy a greater width of winding, this quickly 1 .e a fairly bulky arrangement owing to the '3 nogonal device, and the fixing in a receiving case becomes substantially impracticable. if, on. the other hand, the power is increased by a greater thickness of winding, the effects of the coils are no longer identical for the same current, unless the power of the outer coil is slightly increased in order to provide compensation, but in that case the olifilculty is encountered that there is no lonler identical action in some cases and this gives rise to errors of indication. The mass of the superposed windings furthermore facilitates abnormal heating which impairs the efficient operation and accuracy or the indicator.

indicator-receiver constructed according tothe present invention does not have the above mentioned drawbacks, but retains the advantages of the systems which have just been referred to,

As shown in Figs; '1 to 18. and more particu-- iarly in Figs. and 10 which show a general view each receiver is provided with two coils II and ll which are arranged in the extension of each other and exert their opposing action on two blades 82 and 63 of the soft iron armature N, the coils in question being fixed to each other so. as

to form a rectangular paralleloplpe assembly best in Fig. 9, each set of two screws I. and a screw II" is threaded into a block member I rigidly attached-to the frame carrying the coils. screw N which is made of. soft iron-and is of predetermined length, acts, in addition to flxingthe coils, as an auxiliary pole which exerts.

additional attraction on the blades 2 and. I, in the extremeimaximum and minimum) position of said blades, which attraction enables the amplitude of the movement of the pointer Bl to be corrected, more sensitivity to be given the apparatus at the end of the travel .(case of an empty tank for example) and finally all the apparatus of the same series to. be adjusted to a standard dial made beforehand, this being effecte'd according to the results-obtained with theflrst apparatus of the series (three on each side).

This arrangement enables coils to be obtained which are powerful, identical and the heating'of which is very slight.

:that enables them to be firmly fixed to the case -II by means of six screws N, and O6. Asshown tentiometer II is divided in a ratio that depends This organization and arrangement of the coils furthermore enables, in case one of the coils is defective, such coil to be replaced without touching less thick according to the respective. densities of the metals, and taking into account the weight of the pointer N which, although ultra-ligh-t,-must obviously be compensated for.

It will immediately be seen that by means of the novel device, a very powerful, accurately balanced electrically and mechanically, and very rugged arrangement is obtained in a very simple manner. Of course, the shape of the magnetic blades and that of the compensating blade may vary according to the actions desired.

The power of the torque which acts on the blades is of fairly great importance owing to the presence of the pointer I whereof the mass, although very small, can only be theoretically persultant torque which acts on the blades '2 and i3 is eater.

Th spindle of the movable system is adjustably mounted in a. stirrup it (see Figs. 10 and 12) serving ,as'a support for each of the two coils, the framework of which is formed by a flat tube ll soldered to a flange II that comes into contact with the stirrup u on which it is fixed. v v

As stated above, the receiver which is shown by way of example in Figs. '1 to 11 is a double receiver indicator. In the case of large aeroplanes for example, in which the fuel tanks are ofti arranged in pairs, it is sufficient to have on 101 "said balancing means being rigidly mounted tofectly balanced by means of an opposite mass I hie-indicator, the case of which carries two graduated scales and a single row of figures (Fig. '7)

In the case of a single fuel tank and of a single oilreservoir, it is possible, as shown in Fig. 11, to graduate one of the scales for the fuel and the other for the oil.

.The operation of the device which has just been described is substantially the same as that of the known potentiometer gauges. By the effect of the slider It, the resistance ll of the poon the position of the slider it, that is to say on the position of the float i, consequently on the quantity of liquid contained in the tank R to be gauged. The intensity of thecurrent flowing through the coils II and Si is in the same ratio,

and the two fields produced by the two aforesaid coils are proportional to the intensities of the current flowing through said coils. In the position shown in Fig.- 9, the attraction exerted by the coil II is greater than that exerted by the coil ill, but as the attraction effects decrease as the blades 62 and '3 move nearer to the geometrical centres of the coils, it follows that ilor each position of the slider ll of the potentiometer there exists only one position of equilibrium of the blades of the receiver so'that the index of the pointer" occupies quite a definite position on the graduated scale II. 4

It is obvious that the embodiment of the remote reading electric indicator gauge described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings is only given in an indicative and non-limitative manner and that the device in question could be subjected to any modifications of detail without departing from the spirit of the invention. 1

What I claim is:

1. In an electrical indicator, 8. pair of rectangu- -lar coils rigidly mounted and having magnetic axes which are in alignment with one pole of one co-extensive with one pole of the other, a pivoted armature formed by two magnetic blades extending substantially from each other and a non-magnetic balancing means, said blades and gether with the balancing means providing static balance for the armature, said armature being pivoted to. move between two extreme positions as a result of a variation in the relative energization of the two coils with one coil beingefl'ective upon one of said blades and the other coil being effec- 'tive upon the other of said blades.

2. An electrical indicator as described in claim 1 wherein an adjusting means is provided in the formof a soft iron threaded member with an extreme end extending axially with respect to one oi said coils from the side of coil op osite the other-coil said member exerting an cfiect upon e associated blade when the blade approaches ignment with the axis of the coil.

3. An electrical indicator as described in claim 1 wherein said armature carries a pointer which moves along a vertically extending graduated scale assembly carrying indices.

4. In an electrical indicator, a casing construction having a pair of opposite walls which are substantially parallel, a pair of rectangular coils rigidly mounted between said walls with their axes in alignment substantially perpendicular to said walls with one pole of one coil adjacent one ofsaid walls and one pole of the other coil adjacent the other of said walls and with the other. poles of the coil co-extensive, pivot means extending substantially parallelwith said walls and having its axis. intersecting the axis of said coils between the adjacent ends of the coils and across the short dimension of the rectangular cross-section of the coils, a. magnetic armature in the form of a rigid member carried by said pivot means and formed by two arms one of which extends into one of said coils and the other of which extends into the other of said coils with each of the arms tending to be moved upon the magnetization of its coil toward a position of alignment with the axis of the coil, and an indicator connected to be moved with said armature, said ermsture including means statically balancing it whereby its position depends upon the relative energization of the two coils. 4 5. An essembly including two electrical indicators as described in claim 4 within a single casing and including two pairs of rectangular coils and the associated parts positioned in opposed relation with the axes of the two pivot means in substantial alignment.

6. An electrical indicator as described in claim 4 wherein each coil has a. hole therethrough extending perpendicular to the adjacent wall, and an open-ended shell forming a. lining for the walls of said holewith the shell extending from the adjacent wall to the end of the coil adjacent said pivot means, and wherein the end of each coil adjacent the pivot means is covered by a supporting plate having an opening coincident with the open end of said shell with the support plate! for the two coils cooperating in supporting said pivot means and in turn being supported through said shells from the walls of the casing.

LUCIEN ALFRED MAURICE CORSET. 

